You may have heard that we’ve gotten some snow this winter. You may have heard that it’s been a little, um, chilly this winter. You’d be right on both counts.
Tag: winter
Medieval mutton stew, slightly modified
I used the mutton stew recipe I mentioned yesterday to make this, but I did make one change: I added yellow carrots, which would certainly have been known in Europe by the late middle ages. Orange would not become the typical carrot color for a few more centuries. Red would also have been common, but those are a little more difficult to come by these days, at least outside of a farmer’s market full of heirloom gardeners. It just felt like the stew needed something besides meat, an egg, and seasoning.
Note to self: get a better background for medieval cooking photos.
-Geoff
More medieval cooking on a snowy winter’s eve
This week has become one snow event after another, and we are starting to actually run out of places to put the snow when we shovel. There are really only two piles: the big one on the other side of our trash and recycling bins, between them and the neighbor’s fence; and the small one in this little corner between the steps and the house, where there is a stump I want dead anyway. So the little pile is getting close to its maximum practical size, and the other one has reached the height of the bushes. And trying to chip away all the melted, compacted snow that had refrozen as ice all over the walk and steps took almost an hour of hard work. Thirty degrees outside and I was sweating.
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Wintry mess coming tomorrow
I have a doctor appointment in the morning, and then work in the afternoon and evening. I don’t know exactly what the morning rush hour will be like but I am guessing it will be a hell of a mess. Hopefully the Mini will be able to handle it. I am hoping it does not turn out to be more trouble than it is worth. I don’t consider wrecking the car and/or injuring myself to be a fair trade for trying to make my appointments and getting to work, but I will give myself extra time to dig out the car and try to beat the traffic that I know will be coming. We shall see, I suppose.
-Geoff
Mild winter day
Today has not been beautiful per se, but it has been quite mild. The temperature reached about 50 degrees today, mild enough that I started a project that needed to be done outside. We have some old cat litter bins that I have cleaned out and cleaned up for using as storage containers in the kitchen. But obviously we don’t want them looking like old cat litter bins, so I got some of the spray paint that sticks to plastic. A nice navy blue that would match our kitchen seemed like a good choice, and so I waited for a day with decent weather so I could spray. Today seemed like the day. So I painted and then set everything out on newspaper in the back yard to dry.
Then it started to rain. The forecast said there was a 20% chance, and I guess the roll of the dice was just so. I hope the paint job isn’t totally ruined.
-Geoff
Refusing to learn from experience
Sometimes, there is some wisdom in doing something yourself so you can actually understand it. Regarding the winter weather debacle in Georgia, this is NOT one of those times. This is not the sort of thing you want to figure out for yourself, any more than you want your architect to forget about silly things like plans so you can just “play it by ear”. Learn from the wisdom and experience of others. Hell, learn from your own experience, Atlanta. It’s been only 3 years since your last winter storm nightmare. Besides, your traffic is gridlocked in perfect weather on a normal day. I have been there, I know. Whenever I was driving to Macon for the weekend, I avoided Atlanta completely. What made you think having everyone go home at the same time during a snowstorm was a good idea?
Bitter cold is back
The snowstorm is pretty much over for us, although the winter storm warning is still in effect until 1 PM. It looks like we only got a few inches here in Cambridge, but you don’t have to go very far to see a lot more. I don’t anticipate having a lot of problems shoveling, aside from the ridiculous cold temperatures, plus wind chill. It’s currently about 6 degrees Fahrenheit here, with wind chills between -5 degrees and -20, depending on how hard the wind is blowing. And tonight it’s supposed to get even colder.
-Geoff
Winter is coming (back)
It looks like today will be the last “balmy” day for a while, insofar as the temperature was well above freezing most of the day. Starting tonight temperatures will begin to drop, and they are predicted to not go above freezing for a good while – possibly as long as two weeks. And we will probably get more snow too, starting tomorrow night. So enjoy today, Boston, but prepare to be cooped up inside for a while. You aren’t going to want to spend a lot of time outside after today. So go grab some DVDs from the library or Netflix or whatever and catch up on your favorite show or shows. You might have some free time in the near future. Or if you are like me, grab a stack of books. It will be a good time to curl up with that monster George R.R. Martin book with a cup of something hot to drink and some small furry companions at your side.
-Geoff
Major kitchen reorganization and cleaning, supervised by Scratch
My big project this week has been the kitchen. I have wanted to do a major cleaning for a while now, and it’s as good a time as any. This also gives me a chance to do some reorganizing since I have a good idea now of what new kitchen items (I mean post-wedding) get used more often than others. So my electric griddle gets put somewhere that makes it easier to use, for example. The clam boil pot, as much as I love it, might get used once or twice a year and so it can go somewhere out of the way.
Anyway, as I was cleaning yesterday Scratch decided he was going to “help” by heading up to his new cat bed, up on the freezer. Now, before I get into this too deeply, some background is required.
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Poverty and the polar vortex
Today I read two very different but still related stories about things that happened in Hammond, Indiana due to the polar vortex. Both stories emphasize the plight of the working poor in the United States, and how extreme cold affects them in ways that many people may not have even considered.
The first was about a house fire that claimed the lives of three small children and put two others and their father in the hospital. The second was about a warehouse where workers were forced to continue working – without heat – even after the state had declared an emergency.
The Books are Taking Over... 